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SunDAY • june 19 • 2016
DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 167 • 12 PAGes • 5
T H e
ESTD. 2005
P o W e R
Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all human Lawmaker murder suspect says his name is ‘Death to traitors, freedom for Britain’
T R u T H
— Jane Addams
Lukaku scores twice as Belgium rout Ireland
Anglers observe Fish Migration Day
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With forest areas encroached, tribals fear for their existence
Images taken on Saturday shows residents of Westyard Colony, Dimapur inside their homes and on the roads, which have been inundated with floodwater due to drainage, blockade underneath the railway tracks. (Photo by Caisii Mao)
South-East Asia continues to be polio free: WHO
new delhi, June 18 (ians): Days after a suspected polio case was detected in India, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said no child in the South-East Asia region has been afflicted by wild polio virus since 2011. “All countries in the region continue to maintain a very high vigil for polio virus detection,” said a statement issued by the WHO. “As part of this environmental surveillance collection of samples from sewage is being conducted regularly from 30 sites across seven states in India,” said the
reflections
By Sandemo Ngullie
statement in the wake of a report that said polio virus strain was found from a sewage sample in Telangana. There was another report that said a 6-year-old child admitted to a hospital in Uttar Pradesh was suspected to be suffering from polio. “On very rare occasions, vaccine-derived polio viruses (VDPVs) are isolated from sewage samples. Prompt and adequate response to VDPVs detected in the sewage samples in the past has prevented any spread of these viruses in the community,” said the WHO statement. “It is important to note that such
Lecture, lecture, lecture everyday! Don’t i get holiday on fathers’ day..?Anyway, thank diMaPur, June 18 (Mexn): With the Supreme you for everything, father.
MuMbai, June 18 (ians: Ending months of suspense, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Govind Rajan formally told his colleagues on Saturday that he is not keen on a second term at the helm of the country’s central bank and will return to academia when his tenure ends in September. This was conveyed in a 888-word letter addressed to the RBI staff, a copy of which was obtained by IANS -- one in which he has listed what the central bank has managed to achieve in the past three years and what remains to be done, although that process has also been initiated. Full story on page 8
Members of the Baiga tribe outside their home. (IANS Photo)
ther ‘voluntarily’ or ‘illegally’ evicted from forests on the name of ‘conservation’. As the tribes have inhabited the forests for generations it’s their legal right to live there with some limitations, as also assured to them in the Forest Rights Act (FRA). However, norms are seldom followed during eviction. “Most of the families were moved without legal framework. FRA gives tribals an option to continue living in the core zone or move voluntarily. But no one was told that they had a choice and many were forced to sign the papers,” Sophie Grig, from Survival International, told IANS. “An official told us to sign a letter of consent quickly. He said that we would get money or that we would go to another village. They were determined to destroy our village,” a tribal from a relocated village, called Jholar, said in a letter to Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission. Another tribal, Lakhand Merabi, declared, “Irrespective of what happens to us, we will stay here.” But he had to leave. Over 1,400 families from nine villages of the Baiga and Gond tribes were moved from the core forest area between 2010 to 2015. A village named Kariwah was moved this year. “One more is in the pipeline,” said a forest official. About seven villages still exist in the core zone of Kanha while over 36 had been
moved slowly since 1969. The number of people relocated remains unknown. While many tribal families didn’t like leaving, some families preferred relocation and also benefited through education for their children. “Some Gond families were happy to relocate but most were not,” Sophie said. Ramkali Durbe and Sukhbati Durbe, who are now guides at Kanha, reflect the positive side of relocation and efforts by the forest department. “I know these forests like my home, and love to show people around,” Ramkali, whose village in Mukki zone of Kanha was shifted few years back, told IANS. However, the issue of ‘social security’ - a new concept for those relocated -- continues to haunt. “Most of those relocated prefer living in the vicinity of their relatives for the sense of security,” Chauhan said. Such cases are however not limited to Kanha alone. Khadia and Munda tribe in Odisha’s Simlipal National Park and Baiga of Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh are meeting the same fate in the name of tiger conservation. However there are exceptions, Grig says, as the Solinga Tribes of BR Hills Tiger Reserve, in Karnataka, and Tharu tribes of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh, never shifted - and with little help they stand guard between poachers and the forest.
TR educational qualification case: NPCC Govt silence on phone tapping questioned says “expect major political upheavals” SC disposes off petition for Special Leave to Appeal “with a direction that the Trial Court must, in the first instance, determine the question of limitation”
Rajan’s no to 2nd RBI term
viruses have been detected from environmental samples only -- no children have been affected nor cases of paralysis associated.” The WHO said detection of such rare VDPVs is not unusual or unexpected, and robust short- and long-term management strategies are in place to adequately manage the small risks associated with such incidents. According to the WHO, to further mitigate the small risk of VDPVs, globally nearly155 countries have switched from using the trivalent oral polio vaccine to the bivalent oral polio vaccine.
Khatiya (Madhya Pradesh), June 18 (ians): Dheerwati, a member of the Baiga tribe, stands over some half acre of her dry patch of land, and points towards a luxurious resort -- one of her many nightmares. “Those resort people have their eyes fixed on our field. Officials lure us to move. We don’t have Patta (documents) for our land, we can’t do anything,” Dheerwati told this visiting IANS correspondent, in her village Khatiya of Mandla district in Madhya Pradesh. Her village, situated in the buffer zone of Kanha National Park, is amongst the first human settlements outside the core zone of the reserve forest. Dheerwati, her husband Sonu and six children live in a house that has selfbaked Kavelu roof (tiles used across the tribal belt), an electric connection and a newly constructed toilet. “We require some of the forest produce like bamboo to make a living. They don’t allow us in the forests. We can’t do anything to support ourselves,” says Sonu. Another tribal said that they are even beaten when caught inside the forest. From an annual 2,000 tourists in 1980s to 1,50,000 at present, the resort business in the buffer zone of the forests has thrived the most, but at a cost to every tribal in some way. Many tribespersons could be seen begging for their pictures to be taken by the tourists. Influential people, including some reputed wildlife conservationists, own a resort around Kahna and other national parks across India. Tribals living in the buffer zone say that they are being “urged” to move by choosing one of the “government relocation packages” i.e “land against land” or “Rs 10 lakh per adult”. Officials however deny this. “No village from the buffer zone is to be shifted. However, if they leave voluntarily, they will avail benefit of the packages,” J.S. Chauhan, Field Director of Kanha National Park, told IANS. He added that villages from the core zone only are being shifted. Villages populating the 1,134 sq km of Kanha’s buffer zone, after the families of Gond and Baiga, were ei-
Court of India not considering it necessary to go into the merits and entertain the petition for Special Leave to Appeal filed by the petitioner, TR Zeliang, the Chief Minister of Nagaland, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) on Saturday told the Naga People’s Front leadership to expect a “major political upheaval in the state.” “It is now time to see the writings on the wall instead of the Ostrich hiding its head in the sand and can now expect major political upheavals in the state,” NPCC working president P Ayang Aonok stated. The NPCC statement comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court order made on the petition for special leave, “arising out of impugned final judgement and
NPF Legal Cell clarifies on SC ‘dismissal’ of SLP diMaPur, June 18 (Mexn): The NPF (Legal Cell) has clarified on the news report of Supreme Court ‘dismissing’ the Special Leave Petition, which appeared in a section of the local dailies on June 18. A press note from Convener, NPF Legal Cell, Achumbemo Kikon enlightened that the SC in its order dated June 15, 2016 directed the Trial Court to determine the question of limitation and for that purpose the petitioner (TR Zeliang) need not appear in person and can appear through his counsel. The SC went on to say in its order that it will be open to the petitioner to raise all contentions and in case the petitioner is aggrieved by the decision of the Trial Court, he is at liberty to seek legal remedy in accordance with law. “As such, it is made clear that the said SLP order dated 25/04/2016 in CRRP No. 9/2015 passed by the High Court of Gauhati at Kohima.” Listed as Item No 2, in Court No. 3, the petition was called for hearing by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice L. Nageswara Rao on June 15, 2016. Documents of the record of proceeding furnished by the NPCC on the SC order dated June 15, 2016 read, “Since by the impugned order, the matter has been left to be decided by the trial court, we do not consider it necessary to go into the merits and entertain this petition.”
was not dismissed but sent back to the Trial Court with clear directives. As a matter of fact, it cannot be construed as dismissed,” the NPF Legal Cell asserted. It also claimed that the SC order has come as a big relief for the Nagaland Chief Minister, TR Zeliang as the opposite party kept on insisting that he should appear in person inside the courtroom. “Nonetheless, this particular order of the SC has vindicated the CM to a large extent as the directive given will definitely be the main guiding principle while deciding the case,” it claimed. The NPF Legal Cell further maintained that the SC order has actually strengthened CM’s contentions and therefore there is no reason at all for the “opposite group to be jubilant.”
The SC order, disposed the petition “with a direction that the Trial Court must, in the first instance, determine the question of limitation and for that purpose the petitioner need not appear in person and can appear through his counsel.” The order further said, “It will be open to the petitioner to raise all contentions, as may be available in law.” “If the petitioner is aggrieved by the order which may be passed by the Trial Court, the petitioner is at liberty to take his remedies in accordance with law,” the SC
order stated. Meanwhile, the NPCC informed that the learned Judicial Magistrate, Peren in the recent June 14, 2016 hearing had stated, “no further adjournment will be given and the case will be heard on June 28, 2016.” Given this, and with the Supreme Court refusing “to interfere with the High Court’s Order,” the NPCC claimed, this was a “huge setback” for TR Zeliang. The NPCC also went on to say that TR Zeliang should at least now realize that “no one is above the law,” and rather apologize to the people.
new delhi, June 18 (ians): The Congress on Saturday questioned the government’s silence over news reports on a complaint submitted on alleged illegal wiretapping and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tell the truth to the country. A daily newspaper reported that a complaint had been submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office by a lawyer, alleging illegal wiretapping by a top Indian company on the phones of former and present ministers, corporate captains and senior bureaucrats.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari demanded that Modi should tell the country the truth about these revelations. The PMO should say if it had received a complaint and if an inquiry had been ordered into the alleged illegal wiretapping between 2001 and 2006, he said. “Whether a complaint has been received by your (Modi’s) office? Has the Prime Minister ordered an inquiry? When was it ordered? If the enquiry was not ordered, why hasn’t one been ordered?” Tewari asked.
ccn questions silence of naga ‘civil society’ orgs diMaPur, June 18 (Mexn): The Concerned Citizens of Nagaland (CCN) on Saturday questioned the silence of apex bodies of Naga civil societies on the concern of NSCN (IM) censuring ACAUT Nagaland for their stand on extortion and unabated taxation and one government, one tax. “The CCN is baffled at the silence of the Apex bodies which is deafening as truth, unity and justice for the land and the people should be their priority,” a press statement from the CCN read. It maintained that they (apex bodies of Naga civil societies) should have been the guardian to voice out for the people, which, it pointed out, are missing at this juncture. Expressing astonishment on the part of NSCN (IM) for accusing ACAUT of ‘extreme provocation,’ the CCN termed this as an insult to the wisdom and sentiments of citizens. It reasoned that just as the Naga Political Groups (NPG) voices out the “silent whispers” of the Nagas to the Government of India, so does ACAUT
voices out the “silent whispers” of the people against corruption and unabated taxation. The CCN expressed that people’s voice in the form of ACAUT should not be considered as “nuisance” by any group that profess to represent the people. It pointed out that the ban on ACAUT movement is equivalent to banning the people to think reason and express themselves. “No democratic society silences its people from expressing themselves,” it reminded. The CCN while stating it was dismayed by the NSCN (IM) claim that it is the sole authorised organization to collect tax, alleged that the silence of the other NPGs shows they are in agreement with the claim. The CCN applauded the ACAUT Wokha Unit and Yikhum Village Council for “the brave exemplary action it has shown towards the other villages of Nagaland and appeals to all the villages of Nagaland to follow the same in respect of the People’s Voice.”